1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to decorative light mounting and support structures, and more particularly to a variable position decorative light mounting system having a base member attachable to a flat surface and removable clip members that snap fit onto the base member and support a string of decorative lights.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
It is widely popular during festive seasons, such as Christmas to decorate a residence or commercial building with strings of decorative lights. Conventional decorative lights include a plurality of electrical sockets along the length of an electrical wire which is connected to an electrical power source and light bulbs of various colors are screwed into or pressed into the sockets.
The string of lights are usually installed on a flat surface of the residence or building by stapling the wire along its length to the flat surface and the staples often penetrate the insulated wire or sever the wire. Threaded hooks have also been used to support the string of lights.
There are several patents that disclose unitary brackets which may be used to install decorative lights, most of which require the light bulb to be removed from its socket, inserted through a hole in the bracket, and then to be screwed into its socket to retain the bulb and socket on the bracket, and the reverse operation is required to remove the bulb and socket from the bracket. To adjust the spacing between adjacent brackets, each bracket must be individually positioned and installed. This installation method is time consuming and labor intensive, especially on large commercial buildings.
Some prior art brackets are configured to retain the light bulb and socket assembly in a vertical orientation which is unsatisfactory for outdoor installations because water and moisture may run down the neck of the light bulb and enter the socket through the threads of the light bulb base and socket connection which can cause corrosion or an electrical short.
Comito, U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,121 discloses a window frame light hanger device comprising an "L" shaped elongate strip having a first and second leg portion normal to each other with a series of longitudinally spaced tapered keyhole shaped openings formed in both leg portions to receive a light socket, and a series of longitudinally spaced nail holes formed in the L-shaped strip in alternating relation to the keyhole shaped openings and on the same longitudinal axis. This device would not be suitable for use in installing a large number of lights in spaced apart relation.
Gary, U.S. Pat. No. 4,851,977 discloses an L-shaped decorative light support device adapted to be inserted between the decking and shingles of a building roof and maintained therebetween solely by frictional contact. The device has an elongate flat horizontal leg and a vertical leg. The horizontal leg may be provided with transverse undulations to increase the frictional engagement between the overlapped layers of the roof structure, or may have a inwardly converging V-shaped notch which allows the horizontal leg to be inserted between the layers around a fastening device such as a roofing nail that holds the shingles. The vertical leg may have a single complete circular hole therethrough or a pair of vertically adjoined holes of different diameter. The diameter of the holes in the vertical leg is large enough to receive the base portion of a decorative light bulb therethrough before the light bulb is connected to its socket and small enough to prevent the connected light bulb and socket from passing therethrough. In other words, the bulb must be removed from its socket, inserted through the hole and then screwed into its socket, and the reverse operation is required to remove the bulb and socket from the device.
Gary, U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,131 discloses an L-shaped decorative light support device adapted to be inserted between the decking and shingles of a building roof and maintained therebetween solely by frictional contact. The device has and elongate horizontal leg and a vertical leg. The horizontal leg may have an inwardly converging V-shaped notch which allows the horizontal leg to be inserted between the layers around a fastening device such as a roofing nail that holds the shingles. The horizontal leg has a tab or tabs at the outer end which fold back over the horizontal portion at an acute angle to increase the frictional engagement between the overlapped layers of the roof structure. The vertical leg may have a single complete circular hole therethrough or a pair of vertically adjoined holes of different diameter wherein the diameter of the holes in the vertical leg is large enough to receive the base portion of a decorative light bulb therethrough before the light bulb is connected to its socket and small enough to prevent the connected light bulb and socket from passing therethrough. In other words, the bulb must be removed from its socket, inserted through the hole and then screwed into its socket, and the reverse operation is required to remove the bulb and socket from the device. Alternatively, the hole is surrounded by a tubular tapered collar to receive and frictionally engage a socket inserted from the rear of the collar.
Gary, U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,108 discloses a decorative light holder adapted to be inserted between the decking and shingles of a building roof and maintained therebetween solely by frictional contact. The holder has and elongate horizontal leg with a tab at the outer end which folds back over the horizontal portion at an acute angle to increase the frictional engagement between the overlapped layers of the roof structure. The holder has a short vertical portion perpendicular to the horizontal leg and an extension perpendicular to the short vertical portion. The extension has a pair of adjoining holes of different diameter with an opening extending from the outermost hole to the exterior. An integral hinge between the short vertical portion allows the extension to be parallel to the horizontal leg in a generally Z-shaped configuration for vertical bulb and socket installations, or to be folded to be parallel with the short vertical portion in an L-shaped configuration for horizontal bulb and socket installations.
Prickett, U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,128 discloses a two-piece rapidly adjustable decorative exterior trim lighting system having an elongated extruded plastic retaining strip in a laterally folded configuration secured by adhesive to a flat surface and a series of straight or L-shaped light support tabs which are insertable and frictionally retained between the folded side portions of the retaining strip at adjustable longitudinally spaced intervals along the strip. The outer ends of the light support tabs vertical leg have circular hole therethrough which requires that the bulb be removed from its socket, inserted through the hole and then screwed into its socket, and the reverse operation is required to remove the bulb and socket from each tab.
Prickett, U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,061 discloses a decorative exterior trim lighting system having an elongated extruded plastic retaining strip in a laterally folded configuration secured by adhesive to a flat surface and having a plurality of longitudinally spaced holes formed through the strip which receive the bulb sockets of a string of lights and maintain them in a vertical position. The spacing of the holes and thus the relative position of adjacent lights are fixed. A series of L-shaped light support tabs may also be inserted and frictionally retained between the folded side portions of the retaining strip at adjustable longitudinally spaced intervals along the strip.
Liou, U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,246 discloses a unitary positioning structure for a pattern of a decorative lamp string having an elongated rectangular strip forming a pattern frame with a series of longitudinally spaced integrally molded inwardly curved generally U-shaped fastener jaw elements which receive the bulb sockets of a string of lights and maintain them in a position parallel to the rectangular strip. The spacing of the fastener jaw elements and thus the position of adjacent lights are fixed.
Wu, U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,877 discloses a two-piece positioning structure for a decorative lamp string having an elongated thin rectangular strip with a series of longitudinally spaced recesses along lateral sides and a series of inwardly curved generally U-shaped clamping elements which are fitted onto the strip in the recesses to receive the bulb sockets of a string of lights and maintain them in a position parallel to the rectangular strip. The spacing of the recesses and the clamping elements and thus the position of adjacent lights are fixed.
Byers, U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,081 discloses an installation and storage system for decorative light strings which includes a plurality of generally U-shaped track channels for holding successive segments of the light string. The channels have an inverted U-shaped channel along the bottom surface which is received by snap attachment to pre-positioned snap fasteners secured to a flat surface. The track channels require a special light bulb socket or adapter that extends radially from the bottom of the bulb socket to slidably and frictionally engage the lateral sides of the U-shaped channel. Alternatively, standard decorative light bulb sockets may be retained on a channel having a longitudinal U-shaped track center portion with integral I-shaped lateral sides. Successive segments of the light string are received in the U-shaped center portion and inverted wide U-shaped clip elements snapped over the U-shaped channel at longitudinally spaced sides of the bulb socket to hold the bulb in a vertical position and retain the light string in the U-shaped center portion. In still another embodiment, miniature light strings may be retained on a channel having a longitudinal U-shaped track center portion with integral I-shaped lateral sides. Successive segments of the light string are received in the U-shaped center portion and inverted wide U-shaped clip elements having an upstanding semi-circular portion which holds the miniature bulb in a vertical position are snapped over the U-shaped channel.
Byers, U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,136 discloses a multiple light system for decorative light strings which includes an inverted wide U-shaped track channel with integral I-shaped lateral sides and may also have a U-shaped center channel. The track channels are snap attached to pre-positioned snap fasteners secured to a flat surface. Standard decorative light bulb sockets may be retained on the track channel with successive segments of the light string received on the flat top of the channel or in the U-shaped center portion and inverted wide U-shaped clip elements are snapped over the track channel at longitudinally spaced sides of the bulb socket to hold the bulb in a vertical position and retain the light string along the length of the track channel. In another embodiment, the bulb sockets may be retained on a track channel by wide inverted U-shaped clip elements having a horizontal semi-circular portion which holds the bulb socket in a horizontal position that are snapped over the track channel.
Pan, U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,047 discloses a generally figure-eight shaped clip for connecting decorative light strings to a wire frame wherein the clip has a first semi-circular portion with an opening adapted to releasably and grippingly receive a base of a light bulb and a second semi-circular portion with a second opening adapted to releasably and grippingly receive a frame member, wherein the first and second openings are in linearly aligned relation within opposing ends of the clip.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,837,899, 4,407,472, 4,292,749, and 4,244,542 also disclose generally figure-eight shaped clips for connecting various objects wherein the clip has a first and second semi-circular portion with a respective first and second opening in the semi-circular portions, wherein the first and second openings are in linearly aligned relation within opposing ends of the clip.
The present invention is distinguished over the prior art in general, and these patents in particular by a variable-position decorative light mounting system wherein the bulb and socket assemblies of a string of decorative lights may be easily and quickly mounted at selective positions to achieve decorative effects. A base member provided in elongate strips or shorter rectangular sizes is configured to be secured to a supporting surface and has a flat surface with an outwardly projecting protuberance extending longitudinally along the flat surface with a contiguous reduced neck portion at the juncture of the protuberance with the flat surface. One or more bulb-holding clip members having a bottom portion with a cross sectional shape closely corresponding to the cross sectional shape of the protuberance are removably received and engaged on the protuberance by snap attachment. The bulb-holding clips have a contiguous upper portion with an aperture configured to removably receive and substantially encircle a portion of the bulb and socket assembly to releasably retain it on the clip. One or more wire-holding clip members may also be removably received and engaged on the protuberance by snap attachment to capture a portion of the electrical supply cord between the protuberance and an underside of the clip at selective longitudinally spaced locations such that remaining portions of the electrical supply cord along with a plurality of the decorative bulb and socket assemblies are suspended from the retained portions of the electrical supply cord to achieve decorative ornamental effects.